Operating in a country under lockdown, AP’s team in Rome and Milan has overcome major challenges to produce outstanding journalism with multiple exclusives and beats across formats.
As sweeping restrictions and lockdown measures rolled out across the world in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, AP’s team of staff and freelancers in Italy set an example for how to produce compelling and competitive journalism in all formats despite major challenges affecting them both professionally and personally, including school closures, travel restrictions and the risk of being placed in self-quarantine for covering stories in risk zones.
Three weeks into the Italian outbreak, AP produced some of the strongest coverage yet. Going back to where it all started, Milan correspondent Colleen Barry took the lead on a cross-format story showing how lockdown measures allowed the northern town of Codogno to greatly reduce the spread of the coronavirus, offering a glimmer of hope as infections soared in other parts of the country. The Wall Street Journal matched the story three days later.
Barry also took readers behind the scenes with a first-person account of the impact the lockdown measures were having on her family. Rome correspondent Frances D’Emilio explored the tough choices families must make to protect the elderly, while Nicole Winfield, chief correspondent for Italy and the Vatican, described the enormous pressure on the Italian health care system, with hospitals running out of ICU beds and doctors drawing parallels to war-time triage. When The New York Times had a similar story on their front page a couple of days later, they illustrated it with an above-the-fold photo by AP’s Luca Bruno.
The video team led by Rome producer Maria Grazia Murru faced one obstacle after another as two staffers and an intern were forced to self-quarantine. But thanks to creative work-from-home solutions, AP remained one or two steps ahead of the competition. Murru’s team scored a series of exclusives including footage of rioting inmates at Italian prisons and freelance video journalist Luigi Navarra’s drone video over Rome’s closed parks. Navarra also beat the competition with the first video of Rome residents lining up at 24-hour supermarkets as lockdown measures were implemented countrywide, an edit that got heavy play.
The cathedral square of the Duomo in downtown Milan is almost deserted, Sunday, March 8, 2020, as Italy announced a sweeping quarantine for its northern regions.
AP Photo / Antonio Calanni
People pass a sign for a Lombardy region advertising campaign reading “Coronavirus. Let’s stop it together,” in Italian, in the Porta Nuova business district of Milan, Wednesday, March 11, 2020.
AP Photo / Luca Bruno
A woman wears a mask as she walks in Vittorio Emanuele II gallery, in downtown Milan, Sunday, March 8, 2020.
AP Photo / Antonio Calanni
A man wearing a mask rides a scooter in Milan, Wednesday, March 11, 2020, as Italy was mulling even tighter restrictions on daily life.
AP Photo / Luca Bruno
A woman wearing a face mask stands in a subway train in Milan, March 5, 2020.
AP Photo / Antonio Calanni
Medical staff leave a tent at one of the emergency structures that were set up to ease procedures at the Brescia hospital, northern Italy, Thursday, March 12, 2020.
AP Photo / Luca Bruno
Paramedics handle a medical waste box as patients lie on cots in one of the emergency structures that were set up to ease procedures at the Brescia hospital, northern Italy, Thursday, March 12, 2020.
AP Photo / Luca Bruno
A medical staffer works at one of the emergency structures that were set up to ease procedures at the Brescia hospital, northern Italy, Monday, March 16, 2020.
AP Photo / Luca Bruno
A medical staffer watches from a tent at one of the emergency structures that were set up to ease procedures at the Brescia hospital, northern Italy, Thursday, March 12, 2020.
AP Photo / Luca Bruno
A man sits on a bench as a medical staffer gets out of a tent at one of the emergency structures that were set up to ease procedures at the Brescia hospital, Italy, Monday, March 16, 2020.
AP Photo / Luca Bruno
A man sits on a bench as a medical staffer gets out of a tent at one of the emergency structures that were set up to ease procedures at the Brescia hospital, Italy, Monday, March 16, 2020.
AP Photo / Luca Bruno
Inmates unfold a banner reading “Pardon” in Italian as they stage a protest against new rules to cope with coronavirus emergency, on the roof of the San Vittore prison in Milan, Monday, March 9, 2020. Human rights advocates were warning that increasing tensions over coronavirus were hitting inmates particularly hard, and inmate riots broke out after restrictions were imposed on family visits to prevent transmission of the disease.
AP Photo / Antonio Calanni
Inmates stage a protest against new rules to cope with coronavirus emergency, including the suspension of relatives' visits, on the roof of the San Vittore prison in Milan, Monday, March 9, 2020.
AP Photo / Antonio Calanni
Police officers and soldiers check passengers leaving Milan’s main train station, Monday, March 9, 2020. Italy took a page from China’s playbook, attempting to lock down 16 million people — more than a quarter of its population — for nearly a month to halt the relentless march of the coronavirus.
AP Photo / Antonio Calanni
Police officers and soldiers check passengers leaving Milan’s main train station, Monday, March 9, 2020.
AP Photo / Antonio Calanni
A sign advising the match is being played without spectators is displayed at the gate of the San Siro stadium during the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Genoa in Milan, Sunday, March 8, 2020.
AP Photo / Antonio Calanni
The Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Genoa is played without spectators at the San Siro stadium, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, March 8, 2020. Serie A played despite calls from Italy’s sports minister and the players’ association president to suspend the games in Italys top soccer division.
AP Photo / Antonio Calanni
A young woman leans out of a window to applaud in Milan, Italy, Saturday, March 14, 2020, as Italians were showing signs of solidarity, including gathering on balconies either to play music or to give each other a round of applause.
AP Photo / Luca Bruno
A couple and their dog stand near a billboard reading “Everything will be al right,” in Italian, in Milan, Italy, March 14, 2020.
AP Photo / Luca Bruno
St. Peter's Square at the Vatican is virtually deserted, Friday, March 6, 2020. A Vatican spokesman confirmed the first case of coronavirus at the city-state, and said that non-emergency medical services at the Vatican had been closed for cleaning following the positive test.
AP Photo / Andrew Medichini
Worshippers watch Pope Francis deliver the Angelus prayer on a giant screen to avoid crowds gathering in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Sunday, March 8, 2020. In streamed remarks the pope said that he was praying for those suffering from the coronavirus and to those caring for them.
AP Photo / Andrew Medichini
Tourists visit the Colosseum in Rome, Saturday, March 7, 2020. Italy, a focal point of the coronavirus, risks falling back into recession as foreign tourists avoid visiting its cultural treasures and the global market shrinks for prized artisanal products, from fashion to design.
AP Photo / Andrew Medichini
A lone person crosses Piazza del Popolo in Rome, Thursday, March 19, 2020. Italian officials were warning they might impose tougher restrictions on mobility, including even outdoor sports which have already been restricted to individual outings, such as jogging.
AP Photo / Andrew Medichini
A woman walks in Codogno, Italy, Thursday, March 12, 2020. The northern Italian town that recorded Italy’s first coronavirus infection has offered a virtuous example to fellow Italians, now facing an unprecedented nationwide lockdown, that by staying home, trends of infection can improve.
AP Photo / Antonio Calanni
An elderly woman wearing a mask waits to enter a deli, meat and cold cuts shop in Codogno, Italy, March 12, 2020.
AP Photo / Antonio Calanni
A woman walks past a deli, meat and cold cuts shop in Codogno, Italy, March 12, 2020.
AP Photo / Antonio Calanni
A shopkeeper wears a mask as she works in a bookshop in Codogno, Italy, March 12, 2020.
AP Photo / Antonio Calanni
People wearing masks walk in Codogno, Italy, Thursday, March 12, 2020. The tiny Lombardy town has been a red zone since the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed Feb. 19, but the town demonstrated that by staying home, trends of infection can improve.
AP Photo / Antonio Calanni
Roberto Zamproni works in his deli, meat and cold cuts shop in Codogno, Italy, March 12, 2020.
AP Photo / Antonio Calanni
A priest walks in Codogno, Italy, Thursday, March 12, 2020.
AP Photo / Antonio Calanni
Sidewalks along the Naviglio Grande canal, one of the favorite spots for night life in Milan, are almost deserted, Tuesday, March 10, 2020, as Italy entered its second day under a nationwide lockdown.
AP Photo / Antonio Calanni
A note reading “Everything will be all right,” in Italian, hangs on the window of a shop in Milan, Wednesday, March 11, 2020.
AP Photo / Luca Bruno
Photographers in Rome and Milan saw their photos hit front pages far beyond Italy, including Antonio Calanni’s double hit on Argentina’s two main newspapers on March 10. A then-and-now photo gallery by Andrew Medichini and photo editor Fabio Polimeni illustrating the sharp drop in visitors at Rome’s most famous landmarks was AP's top tweet on March 12. Another gallery captured how homebound Italians are showing solidarity with beleaguered medical workers – and each other – from their balconies with music and banners reading “everything will be all right.”
For resourceful, dedicated and inspired journalism under unusually demanding circumstances, the staff and freelance teams of the Rome and Milan bureaus receive AP’s Best of the Week award.